-----Original Message-----
From: Nick S Bensema <nickb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: stella@xxxxxxxxxxx <stella@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thursday, January 15, 1998 9:49 PM
Subject: Re: [stella] Screen shots
>>>Hmmm... couldn't an emulator have a "deflicker" feature, which does that
>>>kind of thing in real time..? I think that it could work with some games
>>>that have a regular flicker pattern..
>>
>>That's an interesting idea, but don't you think you would run the risk of
>>developing a geme that looks great on the emulator, but when run on a real
>>Atari looks poor? And what would be the maximum number of frames that
would
>>need to be OR'd together? Each additional frame would require additional
>>CPU power to process, and the graphics engine is already the hardest part
to
>>get to run fast. Of course, these days it's less of a problem.
>
>Indeed.... however, suppose we used a 320x400 tweaked VGA mode. Put even
>frames on even scanlines, odd frames on odd scanlines.... flickered objects
>would merely have a Venetian-blind effect. Objects that flicker at a
>different rate than once per two frames, would flicker slightly less and
>slowly vibrate. And solid objects would stay solid, but they might leave
>trails when they move.
I like this idea. Trying to remember a previous frame and ORing with
current frame gets complicated fast. You can' t just OR the images
together, you want to OR player with background and get player. Also you
want to paint the previous frame's player with the previous frame's player
color. Doable in principle, but complex.
This idea requires no memory of the previous frame. The video memory does
it automatically. It's computationally cheap. Looks doable. And I've been
wanting to play with the tweaked modes anyway. I was looking at 360 by 240
so that tall games could be displayed at a reasonable aspect ratio. I think
there's a 360 by 480 too.
--
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